Welcome to another episode of the Gullmouth Action podcast, where we take a look at all the latest goings on at Brighton & Hove Albion and Crawley Town.
Matt Pole is joined by Sam Morton, who covers both Albion and the Reds, Brighton writer Henry Bryant, and Crawley Town expert Mark Dunford.
Fabian Hurzeler was officially unveiled as Brighton & Hove Albion’s new head coach today, replacing the history-making Roberto De Zerbi. We’ll discuss the headlines from the German’s press conference, and bring you all the latest noise and confusion from Crawley Town.
Matt Pole is joined by Sam Morton, who covers both Albion and the Reds, Brighton writer Henry Bryant, and Crawley Town expert Mark Dunford.
Fabian Hurzeler was officially unveiled as Brighton & Hove Albion’s new head coach today, replacing the history-making Roberto De Zerbi. We’ll discuss the headlines from the German’s press conference, and bring you all the latest noise and confusion from Crawley Town.
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SportsTranscript
00:00Welcome to another episode of the Goldmouth Action Podcast, where we take a look at all
00:06the latest goings on at Brighton, Hove Albion and Crawley Town. I'm Matt Poulton. This week
00:10I'm joined by Sam Morton, who covers both Albion and the Reds, Brighton writer Henry
00:14Bryant and Crawley Town expert Mark Dunford. Fabian Herzela was officially unveiled as
00:19Brighton and Hove Albion's new head coach today, replacing the history-making Roberto
00:23Di Servi. We'll bring you all the headlines from the Germans' first press conference and
00:27bring you all the latest noise and confusion coming out of Crawley Town. You can read all
00:32the stories we are talking about with videos and pictures online at sussexworld.co.uk forward
00:37slash sport. And you can check out other great videos on shotstv.com and Freeview channel
00:41276. You may also be watching on latest TV. So if you are, thank you very much for tuning
00:47in. But as mentioned at the top of the pod, Fabian Herzela was introduced to the Brighton
00:52media at his first press conference today. And you were there, Sam Morton. What were
00:56your first assessments?
00:57Yeah, yeah. I thought he came across very well, actually, actually, Matt. It was great
01:01to finally meet him after all this time of him being manager. And it was a packed press
01:08conference. I've never seen so many people at the Lansing training ground, actually.
01:12Obviously, everyone's all excited to come and see the new manager and get that first
01:17glimpse and see what he's all about. And obviously, there is a little bit of history. He's the
01:21youngest Premier League manager in history at 31 years old, which makes him younger than
01:26quite a few of the players in the squad. And it probably annoyed him a little bit. So many
01:32questions were about his age, but he took them all very well and gave some great answers
01:38really just about how age doesn't have any factor on kind of his footballing experience.
01:43And he's been a manager for five and a half years. And he's got some great experience
01:48in that sense, because he did retire as a player at the age of 22. And he kind of revealed
01:53that's because he just knew he wasn't going to reach the heights that he would kind of
01:58want to as a footballer. And he said, for example, he could never play for Brighton.
02:01And he just thought there was no point in continuing. He thought he saw himself as more
02:05of a coach and decided to pursue that a lot earlier than a lot of people do. So I think
02:10it's really exciting, really, just to have that at Brighton, another little bit of history.
02:15And he spoke about how he has his own philosophy. And he doesn't want to copy Roberto De Serbi
02:21because he was asked about how he would differ from the Italian. And he was very, very eloquent
02:27to say he wants to be his own man and really bring his own footballing style to Brighton.
02:33And he said about how he watched most of Brighton's games last season. He was just glued to the
02:37TV for watching the Premier League. And it's always been a dream of his to manage in the
02:41Premier League. I think he did actually at one point say Brighton were one of the few
02:45clubs that could have persuaded him to leave Seppoli, actually, because he was so happy
02:48there and he was happy to stay there for another season after getting into the Bundesliga.
02:53But after getting a call from Brighton, he couldn't say no, which is probably very good
02:59to hear from Brighton fans. And I guess I can't wait for the season to start to see
03:04how he gets on. But I think first impressions were really good. I thought he came across
03:09as a very good communicator. And he was there with Tony Bloom and Paul Barber, who kind
03:15of sat there as proud parents almost. It really felt like that. And it was just, yeah, I think
03:21they're very excited with who they've appointed. And they couldn't say enough nice words about
03:26him. So, yeah, very exciting.
03:27And I'm sure that Albion's newest signing at Yancuba Minte would have probably been
03:32a topic of conversation as well. Sam, what did you learn about Brighton's new boy?
03:36Yeah, so he was mentioned quite early on. So, a signing from Newcastle, although he
03:42never played in the Premier League, he didn't have an appearance for Newcastle, because
03:45he spent the season on loan at Feyenoord. And he had a very successful season with them.
03:50So, I think it's another exciting signing for Brighton, 19 years old. And just, yeah,
03:55another one onto the conveyor belt of young talent that Brighton have. And obviously,
04:01Hazard will be looking to mould into his style of football. And, yeah, it's difficult to say
04:07how well he will do. Obviously, as I've mentioned, he's not played in the Premier League before. But
04:11I think it just shows kind of the pedigree of Brighton, which we've spoken about a little
04:16bit at the press conference as well. Just kind of how Brighton have got such a good
04:20history now of bringing players in from a young age and able to develop them into world beaters
04:26and sell them on for huge profits. So, hopefully, this is just another one that will be a great
04:30success. And, yeah, good sign so far for him. What do you make of the Mente signing? Henry,
04:36as an Albion fan, is that one to get excited about?
04:39Yeah, definitely. And, I mean, looking at the highlights of him that you'll find on YouTube,
04:44he will just use his raw pace to take about two or three players out of the game and get
04:50Feyenoord into these dangerous areas that we've seen with the likes of Mitoma for the Albion as
04:55well. But he gives you that sort of vibe of what Jeremy Doku does for Manchester City when he comes
05:00on and just gives you that sort of edge in getting the ball and literally running with it and getting
05:08it into the box. And I think that he's done really well in that aspect for Feyenoord while he's been
05:13on that loan spell. He scored 10 goals himself and he got six assists in the 27 league appearances
05:19that he got. He is another winger. And although there's been a lot of speculation with Brighton
05:25players like the likes of Mitoma maybe going elsewhere, it's always good to have a player
05:29of 19 years old who has been doing really well and has been a fan's favourite for the previous club
05:35he was at. He's stepped up and can do really well in that aspect. He also participated in the 2023
05:44AFCON. He played in the last two games of the group stages for Gambia. And as I mentioned,
05:50the fact that he's got that raw ability and so much potential is a really, really good one for
05:56Brighton fans to get excited about. Another one to look at for Brighton is Mats Wijffer. He's
06:02another player that they're looking at the moment who's a Netherlands international.
06:06Another player from Feyenoord actually. Feyenoord are looking for around £30 million. It's believed
06:11that Brighton have put an offer on the table just a little bit below that and that has been in a
06:17rejection period. But Brighton are looking to get him as well. He's a defensive midfielder who's had
06:2329 starts for the club last season with five goals and three assists. He's also six foot two,
06:29so he's quite an imposing figure. And if we're looking at the likes of Pascal Gross,
06:34that's got a lot of interest now from a number of clubs, including Borussia Dortmund that are
06:40looking for his signature in this summer transfer window. It'll be another key signing that the
06:45Albion need to strengthen up, especially with the likes of Keenan Dewsbury-Hall that we thought
06:51was coming to the Albion and not coming through. That deal was for around £24 million and Jakub
06:57Moda also being involved in a swap deal with the Polish international there. That didn't happen.
07:02Now Chelsea have got him again. More reason for Brighton fans to hate Chelsea.
07:09Yeah, more reason. But I believe that he could be an exciting one. And one quick mention is
07:15the 21-year-old centre mid from Paraguay who's been doing really well, called Diego Gomez,
07:21who's had the pleasure of playing with the likes of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Sergio Biscuits as well.
07:29We'll come back to Dewsbury-Hall in a minute. But going back to the Minto transfer, Sam, he joins
07:34Brighton from Newcastle for £30 million. How do you view this as a piece of business? Admittedly,
07:40this might be showing my ignorance, but I'd never heard of him. Do you think £30 million
07:43represents quite a lot of money? Do you think it's a bit of a gamble or is it another unearthed
07:47gem that Brighton have discovered? I suppose time will tell with it really, but it is a lot of money
07:52for someone that I've personally not seen a lot of. But it does seem a sale that Newcastle may
07:59not have wanted to make if it wasn't for their financial situation because it had been reported
08:04that they needed to ease their difficulties with the Premier League's profitability and
08:08sustainability rules. And they would leave themselves open to a points deduction for
08:13next season if they failed to make sufficient sales before the June 30th reporting deadline.
08:19So, it maybe suggests that they kind of had no choice and £30 million they couldn't turn down
08:25for a player who didn't have any Premier League experience. And at the end of the day, if any
08:29club is going to take someone without Premier League experience and turn them into a world
08:33beater, it's Brighton. And I think that the more Brighton sign these players, and the better they
08:38do, the more it's going to keep happening. And Brighton are going to be seen as this team to go
08:42to to develop. And you may see that two ways and say that they're being used as a stepping stone
08:46club. But that's the way it is, I think, at the moment for Brighton. And that's been so positive
08:52and successful for them in getting to where they are. So, I don't see them changing that anytime
08:57soon. So, yeah, so he's a Ghana international that impressed for Feyenoord last season. So,
09:05just fingers crossed he can replicate that. And obviously, it's a club record signing for
09:10Brighton. It does exceed the amount spent for João Pedro. So, yeah, I think that shows how much they
09:18value him probably as a player to spend that kind of money because Brighton are not necessarily known
09:22for splashing the cash. It's crazy, isn't it, that much money on someone who hasn't
09:27played in the Premier League. It's just mad. Well, I think it just goes to show the sheer
09:32amount of money that is in the Premier League these days, isn't it, really, if you can have a,
09:37not to be, what's the word, disparaging, but a mid-table club spending £30 million on a player
09:41with little to no Premier League experience. It does seem that there's clubs with more money than
09:45cents, in my opinion. I don't know if other people agree with that. I do, I think, yeah, absolutely.
09:51Hmm. But final question on the press conference, Sam. What were the other main takeaways? It does
09:58sound like you've been impressed by what you've seen and heard from Brighton's new boss.
10:04You're on mute.
10:07Sorry. Yeah, no, I think exactly that. I was very impressed, really, kind of how well he came
10:14across, kind of his style, ideas of Brighton and he was able to have a bit of a laugh and joke. I
10:19think there was a question towards the end where I asked him kind of what games he's most looking
10:24forward to in the season and he kind of said he's looking forward to all of them. We kind of looked
10:30at Tony Blue and said I know which ones he wants me to win the most, kind of thing. So he's clearly
10:34got a sense of humour and very charismatic and obviously we know who he's referring to and what
10:40he was saying without actually saying it in Crystal Palace. So I think that's great. It shows he knows
10:44the club, knows the traditions, knows what games the fans want him to win the most.
10:49So I think that's really positive and it shows he's got kind of big ambitions as well because
10:55he spoke a little bit about how he looked up to Jürgen Klopp as being another German and spoke
11:01about how his style differs and how young managers in Germany look up to Klopp and other German
11:07managers who have been in the Premier League. So yeah, I think all the signs are very positive
11:12and it's clear that he's going to fit into that analytical data-led approach that Brighton have
11:16and he spoke about the importance of that and how he also wanted to keep Brighton's coaching
11:21staff on board. He didn't want to bring a load of his team and change things too much. He said
11:27he's a guest in England and he wants the team that's already in place in Brighton to help him
11:32develop to the club and he can then start to bring his ethos and way of playing into the team.
11:39He has brought a couple of staff in. He's brought a goalkeeping coach across as well. So
11:43there was a funny moment actually as well where he was asked if he's going to do what
11:47De Servi did with the goalkeepers and rotate them and he did keep his cards close to his
11:52chest in that sense. He didn't reveal what he was going to be doing but I'd find it hard to
11:56believe he'd go down the same route because I think that was one of the few mistakes that De
12:00Servi did make as Brighton manager. But yeah, I think the signs are very positive and hopefully
12:06he gets off to a good start. On that, Sam, you'd surely think it's for Bruggen who'd start as the
12:12number one next season? I think so, yeah. I think Jason Steele will be there as a backup and to
12:17provide experience and maybe play in some of the cup games. But I think for Bruggen it has to be.
12:22He's starring for the Netherlands in the Euros. We'll get on to it a little bit later. But yeah,
12:27I think for Bruggen definitely should be the number one. He's the right age to get even better
12:32and he's only going to do that with games at the end of the day. I think he definitely has
12:36solidified his place as the number one Brighton goalkeeper.
12:40Well, meanwhile, Brighton's old boss, Roberto De Servi, has a new job. He's landed at French
12:44club Marseille, who came up against Abien in last season's Europa League. How surprised
12:50were you by this announcement, Henry? I don't think many people were expecting him to land
12:54in France after who he was linked with at the end of last season. I think he must have been
13:00quite surprised as well. I think he must have seen a lot of what was going on around you,
13:05especially in the Premier League as a manager who was doing relatively well with a club
13:11that wasn't expected to get any sort of European football. And for him to have
13:15reached that and basically got them to the highest point in their history, I think he
13:19was thinking that there was going to be a big step, especially with the likes of Vincent Company,
13:24that's gone from Pernly to Bayern Munich. So there's a lot of reason for him to think that
13:30maybe there is a bigger job on the cards for him than Marseille. He wanted to compete in a
13:36different way. A lot of the ways he was referring to himself in a sense of getting a new club and
13:45wanting to compete for trophies and wanting to go in that sort of way. In terms of Marseille,
13:51I mean, they're a club with a really rich history and they compete in Europe on a season-to-season
13:56basis. So maybe that's something that Deserbe is looking at and thinking maybe this is something
14:01that I can utilise and maybe get some sort of success in that aspect. But overall, in terms of
14:09the way that things were going, it looked like he was going to be taking a bigger leap than that.
14:15We saw a lot of clubs in Italy that he was linked to as well when he'd always
14:19spoke about the fact that he wanted maybe a job back in Italy at some point. He even hinted at it
14:25in a few press conferences. So to see that he's gone from the sort of club of Brighton,
14:31who have been able to do quite well against Marseille and I'd say maybe outdo him in a
14:37few aspects of the games that they have played against each other in those two games. I think
14:43it's a very interesting one. No one really expected it and I'm quite shocked to be honest.
14:49I am quite shocked as an Albion supporter that that has happened for him. I think that there
14:53were a few sort of meetings and rumours that were going along saying that he had had a few
14:59meetings in Bayern Munich actually. So I'm not sure what happened there. A lot of sources were
15:04saying that in terms of the sort of amount of staff that Deserbe had, he had quite a lot of
15:10staff behind him. That was a big issue for a lot of clubs as well. So you just don't know what's
15:14happening behind the scenes. But yep, Deserbe to Marseille and time will tell to see how it goes.
15:21I think he'll find it very difficult to win things, obviously, with PSG looming over his
15:25shoulder. But as you said, we shall see, Henry. You also spoke with Dewsbury Hall. He now looks
15:31to be on his way to Chelsea after he reportedly completed a medical at Albion. How big of a blow
15:37is this, Henry? It does seem to me that he's probably not going to get a sniff at Chelsea.
15:43What's the reasoning, do you think, behind his change of heart?
15:46Honestly, I'm not sure. I'm not sure because we see loads of players with this sort of potential
15:54to sort of have a solid first team role, go for bigger clubs. And I know that that can work out
16:00at times and we've seen that. But I think for him at the age of 25, he's at an age now where you
16:10wouldn't consider that as a young player in the aspect of the talent that Brighton have and other
16:15clubs in Europe have. I think that first team football would be a big priority for someone
16:21that age who's also come up the ranks with Leicester, you know, from the Championship
16:26to the Premier League. I think it's going to be a massive blow because it was someone that
16:31Brighton was looking at. I mean, even in the January transfer window, there were murmurs that
16:35he might be coming to the south coast and leaving behind Leicester. I think the influence of
16:41Maresca as well going to Chelsea must have been a massive part in that. Jakob Moder was the player
16:48also involved in the swap deal, along with that £24 million, or there about that £24 million.
16:53And I think it's a case now of just looking at some of the targets that we mentioned previously.
17:01For example, Max Weifer, who's been very good internationally, only missing out on the Euros
17:06this year due to injuries, but he's been really solid. Match ratings across the board have been
17:13around that high sort of seven, low eight mark for most of his games. So someone that Brighton
17:18can really bounce back from in terms of that rejection from Dewsbury Hall, because it looked
17:23all but done. It looked like we were waiting for that social media announcement and everything to
17:27come out really. And it was a bit of a gutter. It was a bit of a gutter. Yeah, it seems odd that he
17:33seems to have swapped probably a starting place for Brighton to basically being a perennial
17:37benchwarmer at Chelsea. But I'm sure he's earning enough money to not really care about that.
17:42If Chelsea offered me a benchwarming job, I'd take it, to be honest.
17:46I imagine he'd probably be on twice the amount of money that he's on at Brighton as well. So
17:51I'm sure he'll get over it quickly. We're also in the midst of the knockout stages
17:57at Euro 2024 and Copa America. There's a healthy Albion contingent involved in both competitions,
18:03isn't there, Henry? How are Brighton's players getting on this summer?
18:07So talking about the man that may or may not be a Brighton player in the few weeks that come,
18:14Denis Zendav came on in the last moments of the game for Germany against Hungary,
18:18and that was really good to see that he'd come on and made an appearance. I mean, he's done
18:23really well this season, making a lot of goal contributions and assists for VfB Stuttgart
18:28in the Bundesliga. In terms of if he'll be at the club this season coming, it's a case of if
18:36Brighton are prepared to combat that buyback clause that the German side have got, where
18:42they've got around £20 million to buy the player, and Brighton have a period of time to say, actually,
18:48we want to buy him back for maybe a few million pounds more. So we'll see. The player has been
18:53very confident that he'd like to stay in the Bundesliga, but time will tell. Moving on from
18:59that, you've got Lewis Dunk that hasn't featured yet for England, but could have a chance potentially
19:05maybe coming on as a substitute in the next game that's coming up against Switzerland. So it'll be
19:10interesting to see if he actually gets anything, you know, any sort of game time in this Euro 2024
19:19game.
19:19Southgate, he's suspended, isn't he, for that suspension again? Do you think that'll come
19:24in for him or will it be Konza?
19:28It's hard to know what Southgate's doing in general, let alone...
19:33Are you alone? Are you crawling Southgate alone?
19:36You wouldn't have been saying that, though, if we'd lost Mark.
19:41So I really think it's a 50-50 because Lewis Dunk, although he's not had much international
19:46experience, he's just got a good pedigree to him. And I think that that would be a really
19:51nice addition to the team. I think he's been really solid as well. I think it's worth mentioning
19:56that he's been absolutely fantastic. Billy Gilmore had an early exit with Scotland, but
20:01personally, I thought he had an exceptional game against Hungary when they lost that 1-0.
20:06I thought he was the only player actually getting them up the field and giving them that chance from
20:11going into that midfield to attack really, really well and just sort of interlocking
20:16that Hungary defence at times and just picking through some really good passes where
20:21on a different day, it could have been a very different situation, maybe a history maker for
20:25Scotland there. I mean, yeah, it was a very interesting one. And the penalty decision as
20:30well got everyone sort of up in arms from Scotland. Julien Cisseau for Paraguay, they've got no points
20:36as of yet. And Tom McGill for Canada, he's not been needed for Canada as of yet, but he's still
20:43a backup and they're still in the competition as well, as well as Jeremy Sarmiento.
20:49Tom McGill for Maccrawley Town, I think, wasn't he, Mark?
20:52If memory serves, he was on the line there.
20:54Yeah, I think he was there at some point, wasn't he? Yeah, I was just thinking, I know that name.
20:59What was he like to you guys? What was he like?
21:02I don't know.
21:03I don't think we ever played Henry, if memory serves.
21:10But yeah, very nicely segue into Crawley Town, who after securing promotion to League One,
21:16most would probably expect the Reds to be building upon their existing squad,
21:19but that hasn't really been the case, has it, Mark? We could probably dedicate our
21:23podcast to this alone, but what on earth has been going on at the Borefield Stadium?
21:29Yeah, well, the last couple of weeks have been quite a whirlwind. I mean, when they announced
21:32their released and retained list, it wasn't that much of a shotgather like Jed Brown,
21:38Travis Johnson, Florian Castrati, etc. Harry Ransom was probably the biggest surprise in that list.
21:44And then you would have expected interest in some of the players
21:48from bigger clubs, just because of the season they had. Nick Cerullo was the first to leave,
21:53and you thought, yeah, I can understand that. He wasn't getting picked at the end of the season.
21:58By all accounts, I think they were negotiating with him, but he chose to leave,
22:05to go to Notts County. Then you had Adam Campbell, again, another one that made kind of sense.
22:10He did well for Crawley, but he came from the North East and he's gone back there. He's playing
22:16for Hartlepool. And then it started to go a bit more, wait a minute, what's going on? Will Wright
22:22went to Swindon on a three, dropping down a division. I mean, Will Wright was the Crawley
22:26observer player of the season. I thought he had a superb season, brilliant player,
22:30lovely bloke as well. And then they were on threes. There was a bit of a,
22:36with Will Wright, because they apparently had an option for another year, which is the club's
22:41prerogative to have that, to extend that option. But I don't know if they didn't take it or what
22:46went wrong with the negotiations there. But anyway, Swindon Town took advantage and got him on a three,
22:51which is an absolute bargain for them. But then, yeah, and then it was just two,
22:57what was it, about 48 hours. It was Benito Orsi, their top scorer. Corey O'Day,
23:02arguably their player of the season, and one of the reasons why they got promoted.
23:06And Clydie Lollos, the young player of the year, all went. So Orsi went to Burton for a fee,
23:13Corey O'Day went to Stockport, Clydie Lollos to Bolton. O'Day and Lollos going to Stockport
23:19and Bolton. They're two teams you'd imagine are going to be pushing for the title. Burton,
23:23I think, are one of the few teams tipped to finish lower than Crawley next year and
23:27leave one with all the bookmakers and that. But by all accounts, they've got new owners,
23:31lots of money, et cetera. So it was just a surprise that the owners had just let these
23:38players go. I spoke to Scott Lindsay after the fixture release day breakfast, which was supposed
23:43to be this big positive day, Crawley find out who they've got in the thing. As I was writing up all
23:48the quotes and everything about how positive and what a great challenge it's going to be,
23:52Orsi left and the whole sort of mood changed between the fans and everything. And it was
23:58just a bit crazy. And I said to Lindsay about, well, at that point, it was only Cerullo, Wright
24:05and Campbell. And he said, oh, yeah, we didn't want to see them go, but money talks, et cetera,
24:10and all that. So he sort of accepted it. But then, yeah, then after those, I haven't spoken
24:16to Lindsay since. I have approached him, but I haven't been spoken to by the owners or Lindsay
24:24since because it's been quite a big deal. Those certainly Orsi, Adai and Loros within the space
24:30of 48 hours of each other. That was quite a big shock. You've mentioned the lack of reaction from
24:37the manager and the owner so far, but I imagine the supporters have had a few things to say
24:41about those departures. Mark, what's the mood like at the moment?
24:45Oh, it was, yeah, it was back to summer of 2022 after the owners took over and got everything.
24:52It was just, yeah, I mean, I don't like to use the word, but it did get quite toxic again on
24:58all social media. I mean, X for what is toxic at the best of times anyway. But the mood at Crawley
25:04was so good after Wembley and everything. It was, everybody was so positive, but then it just started
25:09to get a bit toxic again. Words like, oh, we're self-destruct. They pressed the self-destruct
25:14button. They don't know what they're doing, et cetera. And all they're saying to whack me again.
25:20So, yeah, it did get rather negative, but there were a few sensible,
25:24level-headed voices just saying this was always going to happen. Crawley are a selling club.
25:28No matter what you think, you get promotion. Crawley is like a little bit like Brighton.
25:32They are a selling club. People will come to Crawley, get developed. They've got a great
25:37coaching staff there. Scott Lindsay, arguably one of the best managers in those lower divisions in
25:42the AFL. He's got to develop these players and they've got to make money. It is a business and
25:47that's how Wagner seeing it. You'd like to think, I think Steve Leak wrote a really good column for
25:52us this week about their maths model work last year. Why can't it work again? They've seen,
25:57they've looked at the numbers, made a little, I hope they've made a lot of money out of Horsey,
26:01Adai and Lollos and invest that in other players. And it looks like the players they've got so far,
26:09barring the Scott Malone one, it looks like it's following the blueprint of last year.
26:14Team players that were at academy, good teams at academy level, haven't quite made it,
26:21made their names in non-league and now Crawley have picked them up. So, and that worked
26:25wonders last year. And in fact, this year's transfer window so far does echo last year's.
26:31We all know how last year worked out in the end. So, I think I can understand the panic because
26:36the fans get to love the players. They build relationships, Horsey and all of them, Adai,
26:43Lollos, Will Wright, Edwin, Nick Sarula, we all know how much they love Nick Sarula.
26:47But they just had this bond with the Crawley fans last year and they were never going to be happy
26:52whoever left. And I just think, yeah, I just think they just need to calm down a little bit.
26:57Yes, it may all go wrong, but that's football, isn't it?
27:02There's definitely an emotional attachment, I think, probably from the fact that they got
27:05promoted and had the party at the Broadmoor Stadium and you really got to see the players,
27:11well, the people behind the players, I guess. They weren't just names at that point.
27:16They were out partying in Crawley High Street with the fans. I think the Lawrence
27:20Maguire one hit hard because he was out partying as well.
27:23Oh, yeah, you mentioned Lawrence Maguire.
27:27So I think it's difficult in that sense because they have formed such an attachment to those
27:31players and to have gone so quick. And yeah, you can kind of understand that.
27:35Yeah, yeah. I think there should be a sense of calm. Wait until you see what happens and then
27:41get angry. If they lose the first 10 games, then you can say what you want kind of thing. But
27:48I wrote a column, which I didn't actually put up anywhere because I forgot to in the end.
27:53My last bit was like, please be calm. My message is keep calm. They've obviously got a plan.
27:58Hopefully it'll work out. But my very last line was, if Scott Lindsay leaves,
28:03scrap everything I've just said, then you can start to panic kind of thing. And at the moment,
28:08I just hope Scott Lindsay's there on August 10th when they kick off against Blackpool.
28:13And also, I know this might be potentially an unpopular opinion amongst Crawley Town fans,
28:18but you look at some of the departures, Sam, that have happened. You look at some of the
28:21clubs they've gone to, like Clyde Enolos going to Bolton and Adai going to Stockport.
28:27When you look at some of these, is it really not that much of a surprise? Like Bolton,
28:31they've got a big reputation and equally Stockport, they've got deep pockets. So
28:36could you see where I'm coming from? Yeah, 100%. I think that was always the fear,
28:40wasn't it? When Crawley went to Wembley and were obviously on TV and won the game in style.
28:46And everyone was talking about how amazing Crawley were. It's a bit like Brighton,
28:50isn't it? When people are doing brilliant in Brighton, suddenly they're being linked with
28:53the biggest and best clubs and they're off. It's just the same again, just on a slightly lower
28:57scale, isn't it really? It's just you're obviously impressing the world and impressing the country
29:01obviously on TV. And naturally, you're going to get interest because of that. And obviously,
29:06as Marcus mentioned, we didn't expect it to happen so quick. We thought maybe they would
29:09be kind of slowly going through the transfer window and you'd lose players one by one.
29:14But the fact that obviously some top players are left at once, I think that's probably what's
29:18caused some of the outrage, I guess. But yeah, to lose your top scorer and young player of the
29:24year and our player of the year all in the space of a week. And then obviously Corey O'Day leaving
29:30was a real shame because he really struggled to start off with when he first was in the goal
29:35for Crawley. And people were questioning whether he was the right man to be in goal for Crawley.
29:41And he very quickly proved people wrong and became one of the best goalkeepers in the league.
29:46And they provided one of the best moments of the season as well, obviously,
29:49in the playoffs. And we find when the ball came back to him, he showed a bit of skill and trickery.
29:54He's another player that fans fell in love with. But yeah, I think absolutely when you've got clubs
29:59in the football league with the money they do, it's not necessarily a surprise that they can
30:03offer too much money for Crawley to turn down. So yeah, you can completely understand it from
30:09a business point of view why they needed to take the opportunity now where their stock is as high
30:14as it's ever going to be and to cash it. And hopefully they reinvest it wisely and they can
30:19build another promotion winning side. You never know. But it'll just be interesting to see what
30:25happens to Scott Lindsay, whether he'll see it that way or whether he'll look at it and think
30:29he's just turned a team everyone thought were going to be relegated into promotion to League
30:35One. He might be thinking, oh God, you're all again, you kind of thing. He might be thinking,
30:41sod that. But we'll see. Hopefully he stays and he can do it again.
30:45Just going on that, on what you're saying there about taking advantage of
30:50what their stock's really high. I mean, Danilo Orsi, I hope he has a good season and I really
30:55do because he's a lovely bloke and he did so well for Crawley this year. But he's only ever
30:59had one good season. It could be like the shrewdest business. They could have like
31:05the rumours of 500,000, 250,000 for him. I don't know exactly how much it was.
31:10But if he goes this season and only scores two or three goals, only starts half the games or
31:17whatever, it looks like an absolute genius move by Wagmead to take advantage of that point kind
31:21of thing. But that's not to say if he stayed at Crawley because that's where he fits in,
31:25he could have had another 25-goal season. So who knows? But I do wish Danilo all the best
31:30because he is a lovely, lovely bloke. Has there been any indication that any
31:34more players could be departing Broadfield Stadium, Mark? I know that there was one rumoured,
31:38quite prominent rumour that was doing rounds on the 12th, which by all accounts seems like
31:42might not happen. Yeah, Liam Kelly. People were talking about Liam Kelly going to MK Dons, which
31:49when I saw it, I just thought that's ridiculous. That's not going to happen kind of thing. If
31:53Liam Kelly's going anywhere, he's got to go to a League One side, you would have thought,
31:57because he's that good. But I spoke to a contact in Milton Keynes and he said he'd spoken to the
32:03club and there was no truth to it at all. I think they had a bit of fun. They signed somebody on
32:09Friday, I can't remember who the name was, Joe somebody, and they had a bit of fun and stirred
32:14it up a little bit, pretending I think it was Liam Kelly, or suggested somewhere along the
32:18lines it was Liam Kelly. And I think that was just a little bit of payback for getting absolutely
32:23trounced in the play-off semi-finals. But yeah, he's the only other one you can imagine, sort of
32:31big name going. I mean, I can't see Jay Williams going anywhere. We certainly haven't seen any
32:36rumours. But now I think he's got a squad there. Dion Conroy's not going to go anywhere.
32:45So I think all the big business has been done now, unless they get a big offer for Liam Kelly
32:51from a League One club, which they can't turn down. Liam Kelly was at the fixture release
32:57breakfast morning and I thought it would have been unlikely they would have got him along
33:02as the player for fans to talk to if he wasn't going to stay.
33:07Well, it's not all doom and gloom, though, as the Reds have announced, well, last week,
33:11three new faces. Can you give us a rundown of who they are, Sam, and what they were going to bring
33:16to the team? Yeah, so definitely there's been some good signings made by Crawley. I think one
33:21there's been lots of excitement around is Josh Flint. He's a left-sided centre-back. And yeah,
33:26there's been some definite excitement around it. He joins Crawley on an initial two-year deal
33:32following the expiration of his contract at FC Volendam. The 23-year-old was a product of
33:37Portsmouth's academy, but his recent experience saw him playing in the Eredivisie, the top tier
33:41of the Netherlands. And he's also played for Bognor Regis Town. So yeah, work that one out.
33:47One of Steve Bowne's favourites.
33:49Yeah, one of Steve Bowne's favourites, absolutely. But yeah, so he's able to work his way into the
33:55first team at FC Volendam and gain plenty of experience at top flight level, making 28
34:00appearances in total last season. And will now link up with Scotland in his red. So yeah,
34:03that's an exciting one.
34:06I think he's the straight replacement for Laurence Maguire,
34:09playing on the left side of that back three next to Conroy in the centre, yeah.
34:13Yes, yeah. Charlie Barker, centre-back coming from Wilston on a three-year deal.
34:19And he said he got a few calls from his agent about a few clubs. And as soon as he mentioned
34:23Crawley, he was really excited about it and wants to get it done as quick as he could.
34:26Royal Fifth Stadium is a familiar setting for the Barker family, as Charlie's dad managed Crawley.
34:31So that's definitely an interesting one. So hopefully he can settle down pretty quickly
34:35because of that. But yeah, the 21-year-old began his career with Charlton, very impressed
34:39for the addicts' youth system, and earned himself a handful of senior appearances at the age of 17.
34:44So yeah, three appearances in League One, and he managed to get a goal in the Carabao Cup match
34:49against Swindon for over a year. So I think that's impressive as well for Crawley to get
34:54hold of him. So fingers crossed they can do well. And Rustian Hepburn-Murphy as well is coming
35:00from Swindon town after his contract expired. So he'll be in the club on a two-year deal.
35:06He actually began at Aston Village Youth Academy. So another player that can hopefully use some of
35:13his experience from a high level to impress Crawley. So I think, yeah, there's definitely
35:17reason for Crawley fans to be excited, really, in getting these players through the door
35:22quickly as well. I think that was important after all these departures. They didn't let
35:26that negativity settle for too long. They managed to bring in some names and get the fans excited
35:33for the new season. And yeah, hopefully they can settle well and we can be celebrating another
35:38positive season with these new players that Scott Lindsay, as we know, is perfect at developing
35:43players into his system.
35:45And I think Scott Malone, I think, is quite a big signing in the sense of experience,
35:50because it's fine getting all these players with potential in, but you do need those.
35:54So you've got Liam Kelly now, you've got Dion Conroy and you just, I think, you just needed
36:00someone else to add that experience in the dressing room. And Scott Malone seems to be
36:03that one. And again, another guy with Crawley connections. We did a story today with his
36:08first interview. He married into Crawley. His wife lives in Broadfield. So, yeah, no,
36:15interesting. Yeah, there's some good signings there, I think.
36:19And I think the cynic in me would say that they might have hurried along a few of those
36:22signings after the week they had with Orsi, Adai and the Lost Golden quicksand session,
36:26but I guess we'll never know, will we?
36:29Meanwhile, in further good news, midfielder Jeremy Kelly has committed his future to Crawley
36:33Town signing a new two-year deal after a successful second half of the 23-24 campaign.
36:39How big of a boon is it keeping the American at the club, Sam? It's strange that Crawley
36:44have got two midfielders with a surname Kelly who have certainly made an impact at the club.
36:48Yeah, absolutely. He's one that the fans weren't overly enamoured by when he first came in and
36:53wondering what impact he was going to have at Crawley.
36:56Because he was American. Simple as that. That's why they weren't enamoured with him. But carry on.
37:03But I think he was really good. The 26-year-old joined the club in January of last year and
37:09impressed with his tricky footwork and skill and made 18 appearances in the regular season,
37:13featuring all three Sky Bet League two play-off matches, which, as we know,
37:17ended in glory. So I think he was a key part of that, really. And he was just such a live wire
37:23in those games, really, and was able to quickly turn defence into attack. And it was a real
37:28pleasure to watch him. The Kelly duo, I think both of them were superb. So they tied Jeremy
37:35down. Fingers crossed they can do the same with Liam as well, because that would be a real coup.
37:40Jeremy Kelly's footwork is incredible. Him and Clydie Lollos, when they were on the ball,
37:44it was great to see how quick their feet were. It was incredible.
37:48Yeah, looking forward to seeing them again next season.
37:51The Reds have also discovered their fixture itinerary for the 2024-25 League One campaign.
37:56Mark Dunford, can you give us the lowdown of key fixtures, please?
37:59And I'll ask both you and Sam this question, but Mark, starting with you,
38:03which fixtures stand out the most to you and which one are you most looking forward to?
38:08I think the obvious one is Birmingham away on Good Friday, because that's the biggest ground,
38:14is a huge ground. And it's just going to be a really good occasion for Crawley fans to go to
38:20a ground like that on Good Friday. And yeah, I think they've only ever played Birmingham once,
38:27I think somebody was telling me the other day, and they lost five-one,
38:30so they want to go there and get a bit of revenge. But I mean, there's so many games,
38:35there's Huddersfield, Wigan, Bolton, all those grounds. Visiting those grounds is going to be
38:41incredible for them. But I think what I'm most looking forward to is New Year's Day at home
38:46to Charlton. It's the local derby in the competition and it's going to be a really,
38:52really good occasion. New Year's Day is always a good fun. I mean, last year I think they beat
38:55Swindon three-one on New Year's Day and hopefully they can do a similar thing against Charlton.
39:00But the most underwhelming one is their last game of the season away at Shrewsbury. It's just like,
39:05oh, what a disappointment. So it's a shame they're not at home or at a big ground on that last game
39:11of the season. But the opener is a really good one. I mean, it's great that they've got a big
39:16team coming to the Broadfield Stadium on that first game of the season. Because I think if
39:21you'd had a smaller team or an away game somewhere like Shrewsbury, no disrespect to them, it would
39:28have just been a little bit underwhelming. But having Blackpool at home on that first game of
39:31the season, it's going to be a real occasion, I think. Although I understand, Mark, that it's
39:36not a three o'clock kickoff first game of the season. No, it's 5.30 and it's on TV as well
39:42because there's so many. I think each team is going to be on TV like 20 times a season or
39:46something they said. But yeah, that first game, I think all the League One games are on 5.30 that
39:51day, aren't they? And yeah, which is great. It's sort of, I don't know, there's something I quite
39:57like about the Saturday three o'clock. You can always guarantee Crawley are playing Saturday
40:01at three o'clock and there's going to be a few weekends like this this year where people try to
40:06make plans and then suddenly their game is on a Thursday night, a Saturday morning, a Saturday
40:10evening or even a Sunday, I think somebody was telling me. So it's going to, yeah, it could be
40:15quite disruptive to some of the fans, but hopefully we'll get to know in advance. But it's great that
40:20they're going to get some good TV exposure. It's a shame they didn't have that last season. But
40:25yeah, no, it's going to be really, really good for the NFL, hopefully, and hopefully each club
40:29will get their fair share of money from it. Fingers crossed, quite right too. Sam,
40:34going back to you, which games are you looking forward to most this season for Crawley?
40:38I think the one that immediately stands out is the opening one against Blackpool. I think the
40:42first game in League One is going to be a great atmosphere against a club that's been in the
40:46Premier League not too many years ago. So I think, yeah, that's immediately one that stands out. And
40:52just playing against clubs like this with such rich history and pedigree really, I think is so
40:57great that Crawley are in amongst it now and hopefully they can really bring out their A game
41:02in these games, really. So yeah, I can't wait for the season to start. And finally, Crawley will
41:09also host Scott Lindsay's old club Swindon in the first round of the Carabao Cup and also face
41:14Brighton Under-21s in their EFL Trophy group, which I think has got AFC Wimbledon and Wicca
41:19Minute Mark. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, happy with those draws, Sam? What do you make of them?
41:25Yeah, yeah, not bad draws for Crawley, really. Obviously, Swindon was a funny one last season,
41:30wasn't it? Because when they first played in August, they lost 6-0. And then they came back
41:35to Broadfield Stadium in January and got revenge with a 3-1 win. So yeah, again, a kind of odd
41:42couple of results there in terms of it kind of summed up Crawley's progression, I guess, as the
41:46season went along. But yeah, I think it'll be good for Scott Lindsay to go back to his old
41:51stomping ground and hopefully get a win there. And yeah, it's always good playing against the
41:55Brighton Under-21s and be a good test because obviously they're at a Premier League club's
42:00academy for a reason and got some real talent there as well. So yeah, two good games to look
42:05forward to. And just on the EFL Trophy, I think it was such an important competition for Crawley
42:11last year because they got quite far and they got to blood a load of players, the likes of
42:16Joey McKenna, who almost became a first-team regular towards the end of the season, did really
42:20well. He wouldn't have started those games at the end of the season if he hadn't have played all
42:24those games in the EFL Trophy. And because they haven't got reserves and under-21s, a youth academy
42:29or anything, Crawley, it's such an important competition for them to get these youngsters
42:35with potential. Someone like, I don't know if Charlie Parker's in his mind as a starter in the
42:39league, but if he's not, he will be starting in the EFL Trophy. So it's going to be really
42:44interesting to see how they develop in that competition this year. Absolutely. Much maligned
42:49that trophy, but it does seem to be a reason for it for some clubs, isn't it, Mark? Yeah, it does.
42:54Speaking of much maligned, England play Switzerland in the quarter-finals of the Euros.
43:01Not only did you brighten up Crawley's score predictions, but as England are on, we thought
43:05we'd have a quick whip round and see what you think is going to happen on Saturday, I believe.
43:10Mark, starting with you, how do you see that one going? Oh, it's going to be exactly the same as
43:15the previous ones. It's going to be painful. People are not going to enjoy it. People are
43:19going to be doing their nutting. They're going to lose their minds and then England are going to win
43:231-0 with a late goal and everything will be rosy again until the next game. I think people just
43:29need to calm down. We're never going to play wonderful football under Gareth Southgate.
43:34We're going to keep winning, though. Just be happy with that. Absolutely. Sam, do you agree with that?
43:40It's a tough game. Yeah, it's a really tough game. Switzerland are one of the best teams in the
43:44competition so far, I think, in my opinion. I think they've been really good. They're like a
43:48real good team. Yeah, I think England have really got to improve in terms of the performances, I
43:54think. Get an early goal, settle the nerves because the normal stage is 0-0 or 15. It just gets
44:01nervy and I think, yeah, it doesn't help. It doesn't help, obviously. I think there's so much
44:04pressure and whatnot on England. I think, yeah, they needed an early goal or two to settle those
44:09nerves. But, yeah, we've discussed it before but Mark Gahean not being there is a big one because
44:13he's been really good. So, interesting to see who comes in for him. And you never know, Lewis Dunk
44:18might finally get that appearance. Yeah, Henry, how do you think England are going to get on and
44:24who do you see playing at the back instead of Gahean? Well, as a Brighton fan, I've got to say
44:30Lewis Dunk. I wouldn't be doing my service if I didn't say Lewis Dunk. As Sam mentioned, just to
44:37echo that point, Gahean has been playing really well and I think he's put in an absolute shift
44:44for England and some of the blocks he's made have just been absolutely fantastic. The way he's just
44:49slotted into the side just looks like he's got this certain pedigree that we need for an England
44:55defender. And we always did speak about, as my mates said, I'm not sure who we've got at the
45:03back who can actually put in a shift and I think he really has. So, it'd be a big miss. He got the
45:08assist as well, didn't he, for Bellingham? Yeah. He's been absolutely fantastic. He's been really
45:16great. I think it'll be 2-1 to England. I think that Switzerland will score first. The form that
45:23they've been in has been remarkable. Matt's heart can't take it. I don't think I could be doing with
45:29Switzerland scoring first, Henry. If England get that early goal, I think
45:39they'll go on to win 2-0. But, yeah, the longer it stays 0-0 or they concede, I feel the worst
45:44because, as they say, Switzerland are a very good team. Can I admit something that might seem quite
45:49unpopular? When it was in the 95th minute and England were 1-0 down, I actually felt quite
45:53relieved that they were going out because I thought, I don't have to watch this anymore.
45:57I don't have to care about this. I understand that mentality. I really do. I was sitting there going,
46:02oh, well, let's all move on. They'll turn it on now on Saturday, won't they,
46:08after we've slagged off? But, anyway, fingers crossed for England. Come on, England. Anyway,
46:13thank you very much for joining us. You can catch up with all the latest sports news covering
46:17everything we've talked about today at sunsetsworld.co.uk and you can watch more
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46:26and watching and we will see you when we see you.